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Trochee
A trochee ( ) (also called a choree or choreus) is a metrical foot used in English verse consisting of a stressed syllable syllable followed by an unstressed one. Definition *'Trochaic (trochaic)' n. Tro*cha"ic (Pros.) #A trochaic verse or measure . Dryden. *'Trochaic (trochaic)' a. Tro*cha"ic trochaïcus, Gr. (?) or (?). See Trochee. #(Pros.) Of or pertaining to trochees; consisting of trochees; as, trochaic measure or verse."Trochaic," Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1913. 1913.MShaffer.com, Web, July 9, 2011. *'Trochee (trochee) ''n.' Tro"chee trochaeus'' #A foot of two syllables, the first long and the second short, as in the Latin word ante, or the first accented and the second unaccented, as in the English word motion; a choreus."Trochee," Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1913. 1913.MShaffer.com, Web, July 9, 2011. Etymology Trochee comes from the Greek τροχός, trokhós, wheel, and choree from χορός, khorós, dance; both convey the "rolling" rhythm of this metrical foot. Examples "Hiawatha" Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's Song of Hiawatha is written almost entirely in trochees, barring the occasional substitution. ::Should you ask me, whence these stor'ies? ::'Whence these leg'ends and tra'di'tions, ::'With the od'ours of the '''for'est, ::'''With the dew and damp of mea'dows, In the second line, "and tra-" substitutes a is a Pyrrhic substitution (substituting foot of two unsressed syllables, as is "of the" in the third. Even so, the dominant foot throughout the poem is the trochee. Apart from ''Song of Hiawatha, this metre is rarely found in perfect examples, at least in English. This is from Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven": :Ah', dis'tinct'ly I''' re'mem'ber '''it was in the bleak De'cem'ber;'' :And''' each sep'arate '''dy'ing 'em'ber '''wrought its ghost up'on' the floor.'' Trochaic meter is also seen among the works of William Shakespeare: :''Double, 'double, ''toil and trou''ble; :Fire ''burn and cauld''ron ''bubb''le.The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. London: Abbey Library/Cresta House, 1977. Children's verse Perhaps owing to its simplicity, though, trochaic meter is fairly common in children's rhymes: :Pet'er, Pet'er '''pump'kin-'eat'er'' :Had' a wife and could'''n't '''keep her.'' Trochaic meter in iambic verse Often a few trochees will be interspersed among iambs in the same lines to develop a more complex or syncopated rhythm. Compare (William Blake): :'''Ty'ger, 'Ty'ger, 'burn'ing '''bright :In''' the for'''ests '''of the '''night These lines are primarily trochaic, with the last syllable dropped Catalectic trochaic tetrameter) so that the line ends with a stressed syllable to give a strong rhyme or masculine rhyme. By contrast, the intuitive way that the mind groups the syllables in later lines in the same poem makes them feel more like iambic lines with the first syllable dropped (headless iambic tetrameter): :Did''' he smile his work to see?'' In fact the surrounding lines by this point have become entirely iambic: :''When the stars threw down their '''spears :And '''wat'ered Hea'''ven with their '''tears'' :. . . :Did '''he' who made the lamb make thee?'' In fact, because iambic and trochaic rhythms both follow the same pattern of alternating stressed and unstressed syllales (but differ only in which syllable follows the other in a foot), the catalectic iambic meter and headless trochic meter scan exactly the same. Take, for instance W.H. Auden's "Lullaby": Lay your sleeping head, my love, Human on my faithless arm; Time and fevers burn away Individual beauty from Thoughtful children, and the grave Proves the child ephemeral: ... It's only the presence of a few regularly iambic lines :But in my arms till break of day :And fashionable madmen raise :The hermit's carnal ecstacy that allow one to identify the verse as iambic, not trochaic. Other languages Trochaic verse is also well-known in Latin poetry, especially of the medieval period. Since the stress never falls on the final syllable in Medieval Latin, the language is ideal for trochaic verse. The dies irae of the Requiem mass is a perfect example: :Di'es '''ir'ae, 'di'es 'il'la :'Sol'vet 'sae'clum '''in fa'vi'lla :Tes'te '''Da'vid '''cum Sy'bi'lla. The Finnish national epic Kalevala, like much old Finnish poetry, is written in a variation of trochaic tetrameter. See also *Trochaic inversion *Glossary of poetry terms References Category:Metrical feet